Moron Alert: Another Fake Profootballtalk.com Scandal

Remember a few weeks back when profootballtalk.com played up a report that Al Harris might have been seeking to collect a “bounty” by taking out Adrian Peterson? It was a sensational story, hyped by the rumor-mill that is PFT and for a moment it looked like it might be huge news. (For those of you not familiar with their “work,” PFT is like the Drudge Report of the NFL, only Drudge is a great site and rarely gets things wrong. PFT is read religiously by NFL beat writers, executives, agents and even players.) In this case, as in many others, the PFT guys had no clue what they were talking about. It turns out Harris would have been the one paying the incentive for keeping AP under 100 yards. (Despite the irresponsible suggestions from PFT, there never was a “bounty,” in the sense that Packers were out to injure Peterson or anyone else.)

We posted on the subject several times and emailed PFT with a chance to explain, retract and/or apologize. They did nothing. Maybe they were just too busy.

Last week, the hacks at PFT suggested that ESPN’s Mike Golic, a former football player who has admitted using steroids, had been taken off the air because the network didn’t want him discussing the Mitchell Report on steriods in baseball. They wrote:

WHERE’S GOLIC?

Isn’t it odd that Mike Golic has been MIA the past couple of days from his radio show on ESPN? With the sports news dominated by the “Mitchell Report” regarding steroid use in baseball, shouldn’t Golic be there to offer up his views on the content of the report (assuming he can read) and the consequences of the revelations regarding the extent to which baseball players were using steroids?

Well, yeah, if Golic wasn’t an admitted steroid user himself.And absent a full explanation as to Golic’s whereabouts, offered up at the top of the return from every break, we think it’s fair to assume that Golic was given a couple of days off without pay so that he wouldn’t have to comment on the propriety of something that he himself has done.

Only it wasn’t fair to assume that at all. Golic was absent because of a death in the family, news that had to be unbelievably embarrassing to PFT. If I had made a similar accusation — without a shred of evidence, mind you — I would make a full and unambiguous apology and beg my readers not to abandon me in spite of my tasteless and irresponsible behavior. What did PFT do? They blamed ESPN. I am serious.

It’s worth reading the whole thing.

ESPN DID GOLIC A DISSERVICE

As it turns out, ESPN’s Mike Golic missed last week not because he was ducking discussion regarding the Mitchell report, but because of a death in his family.

We extend our condolences to Golic, and to his family.

All that said, his employer did the guy a major disservice by not making it known that Golic was absent due to a personal family issue. By not addressing Golic’s absence on a regular basis (it would have taken all of three seconds), ESPN allowed many to unnecessarily speculate that Golic didn’t want to talk about steroids in baseball given his admission last month that he used steroids in 1987.

Even if everyone who thought that Golic was absent because he didn’t want to talk about steroids eventually learns the truth, nothing can change the fact that they were under the impression for several days that he might have been looking for a way to not have to talk about his use of the juice.

What a crock of shit. (Sorry, Mom.)

ESPN “allowed many to unnecessarily speculate?” Are they serious? Who was this “many” they are talking about? Anyone who didn’t first read such speculation at PFT?

These guys are irresponsible hacks. The only remaining question is why the NFL Network — an arm of the NFL itself — would continue to sponsor the site.